ramrod
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to exert discipline and authority on.
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to strike or injure with or as if with a ramrod.
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to accomplish or put into action by force, intimidation, etc..
to ramrod a bill through Congress.
noun
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a rod for cleaning the barrel of a rifle or other small firearms
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a rod for ramming in the charge of a muzzle-loading firearm
Etymology
Origin of ramrod
Vocabulary lists containing ramrod
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Each picture is composed just so, to accentuate her best features: the long, swanlike neck; the well-toned midriff; the high, strong shoulders; the ramrod posture; and—this feels new—the gaunt cheeks and picture-perfect jawline.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2024
Among other prominent women were Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, who stood, ramrod straight, bearing the jewel-encrusted Sword of State during one of the longest parts of the service.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
“He brought it all: that ramrod posture, the anchor voice, the slicked-back hair. He brought a credibility to the character,” said “Murphy Brown” creator Diane English, in a 2007 interview with the Television Academy Foundation.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 6, 2023
“First of all, she’s smart as hell. She has a backbone like a ramrod and she has enormous integrity,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 24, 2022
On the contrary, he seemed the exemplary student: He sat ramrod straight in his desk, listening with attention, and his Messenger uniform was impeccable.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
“Rural communities that don’t have political power just get ramrodded over,” English said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024
State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, agrees the camera bill is a good one, but says the Legislature ramrodded it through without giving it any thought.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2019
The measures were ramrodded into law by rookie Democratic Governor Gaston Caperton, 49, a man who is determined to upend the state's feckless political tradition and sell mountaineers something they haven't had in decades: hope.
From Time Magazine Archive
As Joe Martin moved up to Speaker, Halleck overrode Taft regulars to become majority leader, ramrodded through bills such as the Taft-Hartley Act and tax-cutting measures.
From Time Magazine Archive
He slashed costs, ramrodded through a diversification program into electronics, plastics, nuclear reactors, rockets and ultrasonics.
From Time Magazine Archive
“This gives us a say … to help us protect what we worked so hard for instead of just coming in and ramrodding things through,” Klicker said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2023
After Lefaucheux was killed three years ago in an auto accident, Dreyfus, his longtime ramrodding chief of production, stepped into his job.
From Time Magazine Archive
In ramrodding an outfit to market, or seeing a plan to completion, all must stand clear of brackish water, wolfsbane and loco weed.
From The Land of Look Behind by Brown, Paul Cameron
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
